Automotive Day 2018: The digitalisation of mobility

The digitalisation of mobility will be the central theme of Automotive Day 2018 in Luxembourg on 7 June. The auto industry of the Greater Region will explore the latest trends, such as automated driving, connected equipment and artificial intelligence, in turn benefitting from this opportunity to establish new business relationships.

The annual Automotive Day brings together industry leaders and experts from the automotive clusters in Grand-Est (France), Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland (Germany) and Luxembourg that together make up the AutoRegion metacluster. “The number one objective of Automotive Day is to facilitate new business contacts,” explains Anthony Auert, manager of the Luxembourg AutoMobility Cluster and coordinator of the 2018 edition of the event. According to him, the choice of digital mobility as the main theme was obvious given Luxembourg’s expertise in this field.

Digital expertise on display

After an opening address by Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider and a keynote speech on the impact of digitalisation on supply chains, the morning of 7 June will be devoted to thematic conferences highlighting different aspects of digital mobility. Luxembourg-based sensor technology specialist IEE will talk about vision and sensing technologies and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) of the University of Luxembourg will be in charge of a session on artificial intelligence. The Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy will provide information on the digital cross-border testbed set up together with France and Germany in order to develop autonomous and connected driving.

“Our client companies have expressed a wish to strengthen the links with the auto industry in Wallonia, so we have invited the Agora industry association to present the transformation of the Belgian automotive sector,” says Mr Auert. “This conference will focus on e-mobility, user experience and smart production.” German specialist in embedded systems Comlet Verteilte Systeme GmbH will also give a conference on connectivity and cybersecurity.

Business meets business, business meets students

Business-to-business meetings are the core activity of the second part of the day. “Company representatives can ask for meetings with other firms or research centres in advance, and we will set up personalised meeting programmes to help them maximise the usefulness of the day,” says Mr Auert. The organisers also want to build bridges between companies and universities. “The universities of the Greater Region have been invited to bring their students and give them an opportunity to liaise with the automotive companies that might be their future employers.”

By green mobility to test the technologies of the future

Tyre producer Goodyear sponsors the event and hosts the afternoon session. “When going from Luxembourg City where the first part of the event takes place ­to Goodyear’s test track, we want to show that Luxembourg is at the forefront of implementing green mobility in public transport,” says Mr Auert and mentions that electric buses are already deployed in several Luxembourg cities. The participants will therefore travel in Hybrid Electric (HEV) buses provided by the Sales-Lentz transport company.

The participants will also have the opportunity to discover exciting new technologies first-hand. “Using the test track of Goodyear, we are organising several demo sessions that will take place in parallel with the B2B meetings,” says Mr Auert. “Participants will be able to test a range of digital solutions – automated parking, connected tyres, city emergency braking, collision avoidance or tele-operated driving, for example – developed by Goodyear, Tesla, Audi, Volvo and others. These solutions are still prototypes or only used in high-end vehicles. SnT researchers will also demonstrate their work to turn a Kia Soul into a self-driving vehicle.” In addition to the test sessions, there will also be a demonstration of autonomous shuttle minibuses developed by the French company Navya. “We hope that these practical cases will provide both inspiration and collaboration opportunities for the future,” Mr Auert concludes.

Luxinnovation contributes to the economic development of Luxembourg by fostering innovation, fuelling international growth and attracting foreign direct investment supported by: Ministry of the Economy, Ministry for Higher Education and Research, Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Luxembourg Chamber of Skilled Crafts and FEDIL – The Voice of Luxembourg’s Industry.